100% tax benefit to business houses for sports' promotion

NEW DELHI: It''s a win-win situation. In a move that is expected to give sports in India a big boost Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Tuesday said the government may consider granting 100 per cent tax benefit to business houses for promotion of various sports activities. Exhorting the need for all-out efforts to mobilise resources from all possible quarters for the development of sports, the Prime Minister said the government has provided necessary incentives to business houses in terms of tax exemptions and other facilities. He was speaking at the All India Sports Congress in New Delhi.Addressing prominent sports personalities, the Prime Minister said: "The Finance Ministry may consider the suggestion for granting 100% tax benefit to business houses for creation and maintenance of sports infrastructure, sponsoring sports championships, and for sponsoring sportspersons for participation in international sports meets. I shall soon convene a meeting of all the leading business houses to encourage them to substantially enhance their support to sports." Besides acceding to the request to rename the existing Sports Development Fund as Prime Minister''s Sports Development Fund and to treat it on par with the Prime Minister''s Relief Fund to attract more contributions, he also announced that sports bodies would be allowed to generate their own resources for maintenance, upgradation and creation of facilities and "no deduction will be made from their non-plan allocation". Apart from the Prime Minister, Union Minister for Human Resources Development Murli Manohar Joshi, Union Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Vikram Verma, President, All India Council of Sports V K Malhotra, Minister of State Vijay Goel and senior sports administrators, sportspersons and ministers from various states were present on the occasion.